Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens in 2008
Born	Christopher Eric Hitchens 13 April 1949 Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Died	15 December 2011 (aged 62) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Nationality	British (1949–2011) American (2007–2011)
Education	The Leys School, Cambridge
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Spouse(s)	Eleni Meleagrou (m. 1981; div. 1989) Carol Blue (m. 1991)
Awards	Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction (1991) National Magazine Award for Columns (2007, 2011, 2012) Richard Dawkins Award (2011) LennonOno Grant For Peace (2012, posthumous) The Orwell Prize – Special Prize (2012, posthumous) PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay (2012, posthumous)
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	New Atheism, Epicureanism
Main interests	Politics, philosophy of religion, history, literary criticism
Notable ideas	Hitchens' razor
Influences George Orwell, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Eliot, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Edward Said, Salman Rushdie, Vladimir Nabokov, Richard Llewellyn, Aldous Huxley, PG Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, Paul Mark Scott, James Joyce, Leo Strauss, Albert Camus, Oscar Wilde, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Martin Amis, Kingsley Amis, James Fenton, Ian McEwan, Colm Tóibín, Bertrand Russell, Wilfred Owen, Israel Shahak, Susan Sontag, Jorge Luis Borges
Influenced Johann Hari, Martin Amis, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, James Fenton, Gad Saad
Signature

Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was an English-American intellectual, philosopher and social critic who expressed himself as an author, orator, essayist, journalist and columnist. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of over 30 books, including five collections of essays on culture, politics, and literature. A staple of public discourse, his confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded public intellectual and a controversial public figure. He contributed to New Statesman, The Nation, The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic, London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, Free Inquiry, The Spectator and Vanity Fair.

As an anti-theist, he regarded all religions as false, harmful, and authoritarian. He argued in favour of free expression and scientific discovery, and that it was superior to religion as an ethical code of conduct for human civilisation. He also advocated for the separation of church and state. The dictum "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" has become known as Hitchens' razor.

Books

• The Trial of Henry Kissinger
• For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports
• Hitch 22: A Memoir
• Arguably: Essays
• Blood, Class and Empire: The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship
• Civilization and Its Discontents
• Why Orwell Matters
• God Is Not Great
• Is Christianity Good for the World?
• Letters to a Young Contrarian
• Long Live Hitch: God is Not Great/Hitch-22/Arguably
• The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
• Mortality
• Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports
• The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer
• The Parthenon Marbles